“It’s a forgiving river, but you have to respect it.”
Brook Lenker, president of the Susquehanna River Trail Association, traces the origins of Pennsylvania’s first formal water trail. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in recent years, the trail encompasses the 52-mile middle section of the Susquehanna between Sunbury and Harrisburg.
The idea began with a single canoe trip in the early 1990s that turned a casual acquaintance with the river into a lifelong passion. What followed was years of coalition-building. The middle section’s success helped seed a statewide network that today shares in Pennsylvania’s more than 83,000 miles of waterways, the second most in the nation.
What sets this stretch apart is its geography. It has roughly 500 islands, five consecutive water gaps cutting through the ridge-and-valley mountains (rare enough to earn National Natural Landmark status) and river towns like Millersburg and Harrisburg that have embraced the water rather than turned away from it.
Twenty-three designated, numbered campsites along the 52 miles, measured from the river’s mouth at Havre de Grace, Maryland, invite paddlers into primitive, forested camping within sight of the State Capitol dome.
A dedicated corps of volunteer stewards, working alongside the Bureau of Forestry, keeps the sites usable, all while encountering otters, beaver dams, and at least one paddler who signed every logbook “Squid Billy.”
Key Topics:
- A River Rat’s Canoe Trip: How the Idea Was Born (02:30)
- Island Camping 101: Signs, Logbooks, and Mile Markers (08:42)
- Know Before You Go: Dams and River Hazards (14:01)
- Primitive Camping and a River That Changes (17:46)
- Volunteer Island Stewards and Trail Upkeep (21:54)
- River Encounters: Otters, Beavers, and “Squid Billy” (25:18)
- Dauphin Narrows: Lady Liberty and a National Natural Landmark (27:14)
Resources:
The Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation inspires stewardship of YOUR state parks and forests through volunteerism, education, recreation, and philanthropy.
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